Anna Comnena (1083 - 1148)

Anna Komnene (Greek: Ἄννα Κομνηνή), commonly latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine princess, scholar, physician, hospital administrator, and historian. She was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and his wife Irene Doukaina. She is best known for her attempt to usurp her brother, John II Komnenos,and for her work The Alexiad, an account of her father's reign.

Following her father’s death in 1118, Anna and her mother attempted to usurp John II Komnenos. Her husband refused to cooperate with them, and the usurpation failed. As a result, John exiled Anna to the Kecharitomene monastery, where she spent the rest of her life. In confinement there, she wrote the Alexiad. source: Wikipedia

Known for
Anna Komnene was the first woman known to write a history; she also wrote about science, mathematics, and medicine.

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Works based on
In Julia Kristeva's 2006 murder mystery Murder in Byzantium, Anna Komnene is the focus of the villain's scholarly and amorous fantasy of the past. The novel includes considerable detail on Anna Komnene's life, work, and historical context.

Anna Komnene plays a secondary role in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Count Robert of Paris (1832).

Fictional accounts of her life are given in the 1928 novel Anna Comnena by Naomi Mitchison, and the 1999 novel for young people Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett.

She appears prominently in the first volume of the trilogy The Crusaders by the Polish novelist Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, written in 1935.

A novel written in 2008 by the Albanian writer Ben Blushi called Living on an Island also mentions her.

The novel Аз, Анна Комнина (Az, Anna Komnina, in English: I, Anna Comnena) was written by Vera Mutafchieva, a Bulgarian writer and historian.]

She is also a minor character in Nan Hawthorne's novel of the Crusade of 1101, Beloved Pilgrim (2011).

Anna appears in Medieval 2: Total War video game campaigns as a Byzantine princess diplomat, under the name Anna Comnenus.

In Harry Turtledove's Videssos cycle of novels the character Alypia Gavra is a fictionalized version of Anna Komnene.

In the board game Nations, Anna Komnene is an adviser in the Medieval Age.